TROUBLE WITH TANK in Scotland

[robert]

my son is off to university and i have been left to look aftr the tank . all was ok for a while but i now hav problems can anyone help.
1. A red/brown film is growing on the base of the tank
2. the shrimp in the tank has become very lacking in energy and sits in one place for long periods without picking for food
3. Two limpet type glass cleaners were added to the tank and both died after a couple of days.
4. the water gets changed about every 7 / 10 days about a quarter of the tank
5. lots of catterpiller type Worms? are on the rocks and come out for food when added, some ate 2 inches long. are these a problem?
6. we have one fish, a clown which is doing well and all the live corals look ok as well. the tank is fairly small 2ft X 1,1/2 X 1,1/2.:

 

[bobby]

What are your perameters. Nitrites, nitrates, salinity, ph, phosphates, ect... If you give us those we can have a better idea of whats wrong. Do you know much about salt tanks since this was your sons? Are you mixing the water your self? Are you using ro water? The slime is a type of algae usually caused by exsses phosphates and nitrates.

 

[yote]

Like Bobby said,what are your permeters?
I'd bet those worms are bristle worms.Most bristle worms are harmless and actually do a pretty good job of helping keep the tank clean.

 

[yote]

Almost forgot,What type of filtration do you have on your tank?

 

[reeffreak]

1)The red/brown algae is probably from high phosphate/nitrate.I would get a test kit and check for sure.Avoid using tapwater and do water changes with RO/DI water.There are also chemical media that would help also.
2-3)The shrimp and limpet could be effects of the water chemistry,I'm uncertain,you would need to post readings such as ammonia,nitrite,nitrate,phosphate,specific gravity or salinity,temp.,calcium.
4).....sounds about right but I would do 10% weekly instead of 25%.
5)Sounds like bristleworms....99.9% beneficial.I would leave them they are scavengers.

Gives us more information and maybe we can help
Best of luck

 

[jhnrb]

just to repeat what the others said. give us some information on the system, equipment, and water parameters, maybe you could take a sample to your local fish outlet/pet store and they can test for you. let us know what the results are and with additional information we may be able to help with some suggestions. without any add information make sure you are not overfeeding. sorry i cannot help without knowing more about the system. welcome to the site and i am glad you have found us.